Feature phones proving to be the smartest in the African context

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The Mobile World Congress is an event that brings together different stakeholders in the mobile industry. Mobile World Congress 2017, #MWC17 was held in Barcelona, Spain, on February 27-March 2, showcasing how mobile is the force behind every emerging innovation.

Of specific interest was the relaunch of the Nokia 3310, a phone that has been greatly missed especially in Africa, due to its long battery life. With the challenges of electricity in rural Africa, people need a phone that can last longer with battery power.

The all-new Nokia 3310 runs Series 30+ and features a 2.4-inch QVGA display. The dual-SIM handset sports a 2MP camera along with a microSD card slot. The feature phone is said to offer 22 hours talk time and one month standby. Nokia 3310 will hit the retail shelves soon (in the second-quarter of this year). The smartphone is priced at 49 euros, roughly 5,400 Kenya shillings.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC),  feature phones increased their unit share of Africa’s overall handset market from 53% in 2015 to 56% in 2016.

The challenges facing Africa cause a fertile ground for innovative solutions that make Africa the innovative continent, rather than the proverbial ‘dark continent’. People are coming up with solutions to counter challenges facing them. We are an example, with a mission to make 50 Million learners in rural Africa smarter through mobile technology. We currently have more than 1.9 Million unique users on our platform. A majority of these users access our content through feature phones.

It is therefore befitting to watch this TED talk by Toby Shapshak filmed in July 2013.

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